Steering lock

[Beemerman59]

Noticed something unusual on my '08 GSA with the steering lock. When turning the bars to the right, at the point where the keylock engages, the bars hit a "rough" area where they are difficult to turn. Once through this part of the turn it frees up and goes smoothly to the end of its turn. The keylock still works but it feels as if something is trying to engage just at that point that the lock engages when you turn the key. The bars now seem to turn further than they did before on the right hand side. Before and after this point the bars move side to side smoothly as usual. The lock with the bars turned to the left works fine and there's no stiffness on that side.

Any ideas as to the lock mechanism and how it may not be disengaging properly or something else?

 

[solidstate100]

Hmmm.

Do you habitually use your steering lock? I do and when some ars*hole w*nker cu*t tried to steal my bike (now long since sold) and force the lock something similar to what you describe happened - basically as said person had attempted to force it the plunger had become distorted (as had the hole it engages in) and it wouldn't retract/clear properly....had to have a new bottom yoke and ignition switch housing etc etc

Soooo.... it might be evidence of someone abusing it, or possibly just needs a bit of lube/maintenance such as WD40 shot around it - try operating the lock a few times whilst lubing see if that helps.

 

[Beemerman59]

I don't think there's been any physical abuse - there's certainly no sign of any. I only noticed this last night so need to have a proper look but it just feels as if the plunger (I guess there is one) is not fully retracting when I take the steering lock off. Are their two plungers/sterring locks one for the left and one for the right? The L/H side works normally, the ignition barrel works perfectly otherwise. Do you know if its possible to physically see the plunger from underneath the bike?

I always set the steering lock on in the garage and always to the right side. I'm inclined to squirt some brake cleaner followed by a lubricant down the barrel but loath to incase I do some worse damage inside the ignition barrel.

 

[Beemerman59]

Managed to have a quick look at it tonight. I can see the locks the plunger goes into both sides so I assume there is just one plunger which is key operated. So, taking my life in my hands I gave the ignition barrel a quick slurp of WD40 (yes, I know it's frowned upon but hey ho). Within seconds the stiffness of the handlebar rotation had eased at the point the lock is activated and after 10 minutes and a few turns of the lock there's now no stiffness at all - the bars go side to side smoothly and the lock works as normal both sides. The strange thing is though I now have more turn on the r/h side of the bars than the left. On the left full lock the fork yoke lines up with the join of the beak and the tank (its a GSA). On the r/h side it goes an inch further round. So I now have more lock on the right than on the left. Same with the distance to the screen - there's now a marked difference. On both rotations of the bars there is a distinct hard stop to the bars travel but I can't see what is being used to stop the bars at their final point of travel. Weird.